MD-- it's not a gimmick for me..if you look at my overboard
vest post you can see that a small kit is part of the gear..
thats because i'm in prime fishing waters and the chance of
getting something is very high..i also know what sort of lure
will work best..a red and white spoon..
on a island in the Great Lakes i would forget the flys and
take bright spoons--they don't need to be large--and the lead
head jigs with the rubber tails--nothing fancy,the white ones
work for just about anything..20# line is sort of heavy and
might make a lure run poorly--12# has worked for me..i have
never had a line snap--its a bad knot---if you pre-tie a
wire leader with a snap and swivel on the line you will save
time and flustration getting a lure on..trying to hand line
is tricky--i would use a old system from down South..find
the longest pole you can handle..tie the line to the end
and run the lure back and forth in a kind of "S" pattern..
i think they call it "dappeling" or something like that..
it keeps the lure in the water all the time so you not trying
to toss it out and retrive all the time..
also take the biggest heavy hook that will fit in the box
and about a foot of soft wire--use this to make a gaff
that you could take a turtle with--for cooking--just
jam a stick down the throat of the fish and cook it over
the fire like a hot dog--fish works best in soup to make
a stew..a thick soup like Pea in a survival kit works best.
i have tryed out all these things and they work..but fishing
can take a lot of time and energy and sometimes you have
nothing to show for it..i think i have enought fat around
my belly to keep me alive for weeks!!!!--any fish i get
would just be some to stave off hunger pangs--